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After going through the TOR site and some of the suggested papers in the same site..... I feel that the topic of Online Anonymity needs to be debated... because despite all the pros of Anonymity over the internet.. . we have to be aware that there is a dark side as well.... The hackers and other malicious code writers get something to hide behind and pose a danger to Online Community as a whole.

Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables software developers to create new communication tools with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for a range of applications that allow organizations and individuals to share information over public networks without compromising their privacy.

Individuals use Tor to keep websites from tracking them and their family members, or to connect to news sites, instant messaging services, or the like when these are blocked by their local Internet providers. Tor's hidden services let users publish web sites and other services without needing to reveal the location of the site. Individuals also use Tor for socially sensitive communication: chat rooms and web forums for rape and abuse survivors, or people with illnesses.

Journalists use Tor to communicate more safely with whistleblowers and dissidents. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use Tor to allow their workers to connect to their home website while they're in a foreign country, without notifying everybody nearby that they're working with that organization.

Groups such as Indymedia recommend Tor for safeguarding their members' online privacy and security. Activist groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are supporting Tor's development as a mechanism for maintaining civil liberties online. Corporations use Tor as a safe way to conduct competitive analysis, and to protect sensitive procurement patterns from eavesdroppers. They also use it to replace traditional VPNs, which reveal the exact amount and timing of communication. Which locations have employees working late? Which locations have employees consulting job-hunting websites? Which research divisions are communicating with the company's patent lawyers?

A branch of the U.S. Navy uses Tor for open source intelligence gathering, and one of its teams used Tor while deployed in the Middle East recently. Law enforcement uses Tor for visiting or surveilling web sites without leaving government IP addresses in their web logs, and for security during sting operations.

For a Network Security Researcher this is an interesting issue which needs to be dealt in depth and with utmost dexterity.

From a logical standpoint there should be no issue as long as you hide behind Online Anonymity as well. You cant get at them and they cant get at you. However, there are undoubtedly many things hackers can do to get past it that we cant due to legality issues or whatever. This is just another step in the nets evolution, as long as you keep up to date and patched up and use some common sense security measures(firewall, router) you should be relatively safe.

I know your type, you think "I'll just get me a costume, rip off the neighborhood kids". Next thing you know, you've got a jet shaped like a skull with lasers on the front!
-The Monarch.

There is no such thing as online anonymity - period. Look at the specifics of how TOR works, in particular, the key exchange & routing, and you will soon understand why this is not foolproof. Well, assuming that you're not a networking/security n00b.

Our scars have the power to remind us that our past was real. -- Hannibal Lecter.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. -- John Wooden

But you could get very reasonable amount of anonymity taking certain precautions couldn't you? Say like using a new wifi card in a lappy on a liveboot cd and a free hotspot? Would that create damn near perfect anonmity? Long as you avoided going to the same spot all the time and using a different nic to log on @ home or anywhere else.

Ryan

edit: I was reading the Tor site and seen it used Onion Routing which I looked up and found this site explaining the techniques and logic behind it.

Originally posted here by thehorse13 There is no such thing as online anonymity - period. Look at the specifics of how TOR works, in particular, the key exchange & routing, and you will soon understand why this is not foolproof. Well, assuming that you're not a networking/security n00b.

Well - As Bill Clinton said, what's your definition of Anonymity? or something like that.

In the days of dial-up I used a local ISP owned by "These two guys" I know for a fact that they couldn't trace me because they NO I AM NOT LYING did not log anything.

Frustrating as hell when they would call me to help on an issue and even the event logs were cleared.

lol
"Should we keep these logs?"
"What logs?"
"The event logs on the authentication server, they're getting pretty big"
"Nah, just delete them, we're gunna have to eventually and we need the space for my DragonballGT collection"
"They just have the same stuff in them over and over anyways"

A buttered piece of bread always lands butter side down;
A cat always lands on its feet;
A cat with a buttered piece of bread strapped to its back hovers feet above the ground in a state of quantum indecision

Originally posted here by pakbehl lol
"Should we keep these logs?"
"What logs?"
"The event logs on the authentication server, they're getting pretty big"
"Nah, just delete them, we're gunna have to eventually and we need the space for my DragonballGT collection"
"They just have the same stuff in them over and over anyways"

Originally posted here by dinowuff Well - As Bill Clinton said, what's your definition of Anonymity? or something like that.

In the days of dial-up I used a local ISP owned by "These two guys" I know for a fact that they couldn't trace me because they NO I AM NOT LYING did not log anything.

Frustrating as hell when they would call me to help on an issue and even the event logs were cleared.

The dialup ISP I used to have was owned by a guy who really didn't like the gov't so he set up a cron job to purge the logs every minute. He had the FBI ask him for the logs a few times and after a while they got the hint that even a subpeona wasn't going to help.